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The Red Umbrellas
English, Danish (translation)
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
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February 4, 2024
I took a gamble on this translation of a Danish novel I found at a used book store and it paid off. Lindemann's characters aren't necessarily likeable but are very human and you end up sympathetic to them regardless of their warts.
The story revolves around three protagonists gathered for dinner when Copenhagan is in the midst of a cholera epidemic. They spend the time exchanging stories with one another and their philosophies infiltrate their stories. The final story has a twist I did not see coming (though not written as a "whodunnit", the ending has all the hallmarks of tying together the mystery that has been building throughout the book.)
Here are a few passages from the book that provided food for thought:
"We who call ourselves evangelical Christians merely shrug our shoulders at miracles that are not safely ensconced in the past...Even though I have, so to speak, assisted at the birth of a miracle, I remain sceptical both of it and of every other concrete phenomenon that is alleged to be supernatural, but the possibility of the miracle I will not deny; on the contrary, it is as bigoted not to believe in the possibility of miracles as to believe in any single miracle."
(Of an agnostic friend, and relating to miracles): "If one rejects Christianity on any grounds whatsoever, one does so in the full knowledge that this world of ours, in addition to false diamonds on its waiscoat, also wears magnificent real ones on its hat."
"Against the mighty powers that have always existed, you cannot strive by setting might against might. Then, as now, derision and disaster pressed in the wake of the black, merciless passions, protected by the very brine of the ocean itself; but the fragment of evil that comes your way you can destroy by not passing it on."
"And when, in a long life, one has seen more than one really cares for, and far more than is necessary to maintatin an esteem for mankind, one does appreciate the ingenious story-teller who knows how to vary the ordeals he causes his characters to undergo."
The story revolves around three protagonists gathered for dinner when Copenhagan is in the midst of a cholera epidemic. They spend the time exchanging stories with one another and their philosophies infiltrate their stories. The final story has a twist I did not see coming (though not written as a "whodunnit", the ending has all the hallmarks of tying together the mystery that has been building throughout the book.)
Here are a few passages from the book that provided food for thought:
"We who call ourselves evangelical Christians merely shrug our shoulders at miracles that are not safely ensconced in the past...Even though I have, so to speak, assisted at the birth of a miracle, I remain sceptical both of it and of every other concrete phenomenon that is alleged to be supernatural, but the possibility of the miracle I will not deny; on the contrary, it is as bigoted not to believe in the possibility of miracles as to believe in any single miracle."
(Of an agnostic friend, and relating to miracles): "If one rejects Christianity on any grounds whatsoever, one does so in the full knowledge that this world of ours, in addition to false diamonds on its waiscoat, also wears magnificent real ones on its hat."
"Against the mighty powers that have always existed, you cannot strive by setting might against might. Then, as now, derision and disaster pressed in the wake of the black, merciless passions, protected by the very brine of the ocean itself; but the fragment of evil that comes your way you can destroy by not passing it on."
"And when, in a long life, one has seen more than one really cares for, and far more than is necessary to maintatin an esteem for mankind, one does appreciate the ingenious story-teller who knows how to vary the ordeals he causes his characters to undergo."
Displaying 1 of 1 review